You've assembled packets of information for teachers before, and felt it was important for everyone who works with your child at school to know just how to handle him or her. Now that you're sending that same child to camp, extend the same level of information to the counselors who will be responsible for your child's safety and happiness there. Here's how to use our "Preparing the School for Your Child with Special Needs" pages, with a few adjustments, to construct a camp information packet.
Difficulty: Average
Time Required: As much as you want to put into it
Here's How:
- Find your child's disability. Go to the index of school information and click on the link for your child's particular diagnosis. If you don't see it on the list, see if you can find something similar and adapt it to your needs.
- Read over the "Five Things Teachers Need to Know." Some may be more appropriate for your child than others. Some will be more applicable to the camp situation than others. Some might need additional information specific to your child. Some will need to have the "he" or "she" switched to your child's gender. Personalize these suggestions for your own child's strengths and needs, and to the particular challenges of camp, and write them in a note to the counselor.
- Add any additional information. Some pages include sections titled "Teacher Tips" or "Educational Implications." Review these, take what seems appropriate to your child and to the camp situation, and include it in your correspondence to the counselor. You'll also want to add any of your personal observations, and techniques that have worked well in the past.
- Click on each of the "Printouts to Share with Teachers" and read them through. Some are short, while others are quite lengthy. Pick the ones that you think are most appropriate to your child and applicable to the camp situation. Sending in too much information all at once may make it seem like too overwhelming a chore for camp counselors or administrators. You can always offer to send in additional resources later.
- Print out the printouts you've chosen. Print them on good white printer paper so they're easy to handle and read. If you like most of a resource but there is a section you disagree with or is inappropriate to the camp situation, cut that section out and make a photocopy of that page to include. If it's a sentence you disagree with, use white-out to eliminate or change it and then photocopy that page.
- Make a final draft of your note to the counselor. It should be no more than a page long, whether handwritten or typed. Start with a positive sentence about how much you're looking forward to giving your child this great camp experience; mention the specific things the counselor needs to know as adapted from our lists; mention that you will be attaching more information; and end by giving your phone number and e-mail address and indicating your eagerness to discuss the material.
- Put together a nice package. If the printouts are not very thick, you can staple them to the note or put the note and pages in a plain letter-sized envelope. If the printouts are bulkier, try putting the note and printouts in a large manilla envelope, inter-office envelope or clear plastic portfolio. The more seriously you take this material and your presentation of it, the more seriously the counselor will take it.
- Follow up. If you don't hear anything from the counselor, check back in a few days with a note or a phone call to make sure she received the material and is reviewing it, and to repeat your offer to discuss it further. It may help to get your child to camp early or stay a bit after to speak to the counselor personally.
Tips:
- Remember, the start of camp is a hectic time for camp personnel. Even with the best intentions, they may not want to spend their free time reading reams of material. If you can put together a package that looks manageable and well-thought-out, you'll move to the front of the class.
- In your note, focus on the ways that using techniques appropriate to your child's special needs will make things easier for the counselor, rather than insisting on rights and obligations.
- Keep your tone friendly, helpful and no-nonsense -- one professional to another. You are writing as an expert in your particular child and his or her diagnosis, not as a pleading or pushy parent.
- Make a copy of all correspondence for your records. Using a datebook or a contact log, jot down when and what you sent to the counselor or other camp personnel, and what follow-up you made.
- If you get a bad reaction to this material -- if counselors or camp personnel refuse to accept it, or say they know best, or worry that your child obviously needs too much help -- consider whether this is really the right camp for your child. You need people who will take your child's needs seriously and meet them joyfully.
